Vettel: Whoever wins title will deserve it

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In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel believes whoever wins the title between him and Fernando Alonso will deserve it.

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Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Q&A – Sebastian Vettel prepares to hit 100 in Austin (F1)

“If you look at the races we’ve done so far I think Fernando’s and my DNF’s or calamities are equal. I still believe that the driver who deserves it most will be champion. No doubt we are in a very good position now and I hope we do well until the very end to make sure that we deserve the glory.”

Why drugs and F1 don’t mix (ESPN)

FIA F1 medical delegate Jean-Charles Piette: “There are some drugs that might reinforce the aptitude and skill to drive in competition. On a theoretical basis, we could imagine the potential for such drugs, starting from the benign ones – such as caffeine, for example, or nicotine – to the more serious, such as amphetamines or cocaine. In other sports there have been some positive tests from people, and it’s not always clear it’s from recreational use.”

United States GP: Vijay’s Vision (Force India)

Vijay Mallya: “We have traditionally waited until the end of the season to confirm our line-up and I expect we will stick to this schedule. With the state of the driver market at the moment there is no rush to make an announcement. We have a shortlist and will take our time to make sure we have the fastest drivers available in our cars next season.”

Maldonado explains the secrets behind his qualifying speed (James Allen on F1)

“I’m quite strong mentally to be honest with you. There is not the perfect lap – it doesn’t exist – you always can do better. What I learn from qualy one I do that in qualy two, and what I learn from qualy one and two I try to do that for qualy three.”

Is Sunday’s F1 race weird enough for Austin, Texas? (Reuters)

“Some sceptics have come around, embracing the race and the sleek parties that come with it, while others are still shaking their heads over fears of clogged streets, noisy helicopter traffic and a negative impact on the environment, all for a ritzy event they say is simply un-Austin.”

F1 star Perez gives Mexicans hope (CNN)

“My country is really only in the media for drugs and violence, which is sad. And yes there have been problems with the Mafia and drugs, but it’s getting better. People need to focus on the fact it’s a great place, with some great beaches and some great people.”

Rain could be headache for F1 (Austin-American Statesman)

“Unlike NASCAR, Formula One races in the rain, which often provides more action. Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone once floated the idea of installing sprinklers at tracks to create more overtaking, as passing is called.”

Schumacher: “This won’t be my last Race Of Champions” (Race of Champions)

“I could have retired from it by the end of this year, but I don’t want to. It’s too much fun. And as long as I’m still a bit competitive in it, why not?”

Meanwhile in Rio (Joe Saward)

“The city has managed to attract not only the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final, but also the 2016 Olympics Games. The aim is to keep this progress going and as part of the plan the mayor Eduardo Paes has been pushing for the construction of a new autodrome to replace the old Jacarepagua circuit, which has been largely torn up to make way for facilities for the Olympic Games.”

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix video edit (F1)

Video from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Industry insiders reveal all about the greatest motorsport on Earth (BBC)

“Formula for Success is a series which looks in detail at the inspiring technology behind Formula 1.”

Introducing Wendy & Keith Murray (Force India)

“As a one-off competition, our team partner, Whyte & Mackay, gave fans the chance to win their names on the cars for the weekend. As prizes go, this is surely the ultimate honour for any Formula One fan. Just ask the lucky winners – Wendy & Keith Murrary from Scotland.” See here for a few comments from Wendy during the race weekend.

Tweets

Comment of the day

Pirelli’s Paul Hembery said the racing was good in Abu Dhabi after a conservative tyre selection – but @Girts doesn’t think the two are connected:

The excitement had practically nothing to do with the tyres. We were lucky to get a thrilling race but you cannot rely on collisions, safety cars or bugs in Red Bull’s fuel system every time.
@Girts

From the forum

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On this day in F1

Michael Schumacher returned to F1 action one year after his first retirement by testing for Ferrari.

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129 comments on “Vettel: Whoever wins title will deserve it”

  1. I agree entirely: both Alonso and Vettel have driven very well this year and both would be deserving triple world champions. This isn’t like 2011 where Vettel clearly had the quickest car, he’s had to fight for this one. Likewise, Alonso was absolutely faultless in the first half of the season.

    1. both have been excellent. Alonso slightly the better but Seb has had to fight for it and come from behind if he is to take it, making few errors. Alonso has rarely enjoed the fastest car and has hardly made an error

    2. @ettel1

      Agreed +10000000000

      Vettel has done a great job in keeping in title contention with a weaker RB8 early/mid season, and especially in making the most of a resurgent RB8 to quickly overhaul Alonso’s lead.

      While Alonso has also done a great job, by capitalising on rivals faltering forms early/mid season to carve out such a lead previously, also greatly thanks to Ferrari’s ability to provide him with a strong F2012 capable of consistently challenging for top 5 places every race since the Mugello update, but still nevertheless very impressive.

      Both would be very deserving champions. In fact, all champions are deserving of their titles TBH. We, ordinary spectators, have no right to have make such heavy judgement on whether they’ re deserving, because what they achieved is something many of us wouldn’t be able to match. Sadly, because of anonymity and plain ignorance, some people start to make very biased, judgemental claims on whether these champions “deserve it or not”.

      We can express our views, but we must also know our limits, especially as compared to these great talents in the top-tier of motorsport.

    3. @vettel1

      This isn’t like 2011 where Vettel clearly had the quickest car

      He has had the fastest car again this year… maybe not by the 2011 margin.. but the fastest car nonetheless

      1. @todfod – I disagree: over the course of the season the only races in which Red Bull have had a clear performance advantage are Valencia, Japan, Korea and India. In comparison, McLaren have been fastest in Australia, Malaysia, Hungary, Belgium & Monza. Note that McLaren have had more races with the fastest car (note: I am talking of clear performance advantages, of which there can be almost no dispute of).

        Vettel wasn’t given a number 1 car at the begging of the season but he is now leading the championship.

        1. What about the rest of the circuits?

          What about Monaco, Bahrain, Britain.. would you say there was a car quicker than the Red Bull on those circuits?

          I agree the Mclaren was quick.. infact I would say they were quickest in Spain as well.

          Overall Mclaren and Red Bull have been equally quick.. but Red Bull has been more consistent and reliable… which makes them the best car of the season.

          I dont know how anyone can argue against Seb having the best car this year

          1. The Mercedes was quicker than the Redbull in Monaco, and without his penalty from Spain, Schumacher would have been on pole and probably would have won the race.

            Hard to say about Britian, with all the rain over the entire weekend, it was much more of crap shoot.

          2. @todfod – I made a point of putting in bold clear performance advantage: in Monaco Schumacher was on pole before his penalty (and Rosberg was right up there also), in Bahrain Lotus were arguably much quicker in the race (and Räikkönen probably would have beaten Vettel had he qualified higher), Britain was clouded by the rainy qualifying, so it is up for debate whether McLaren could have qualified higher or if the Ferrari may have been quicker on a different strategy, but in all of the races you have mentioned Red Bull had no clear performance advantage unlike in say Japan.

            I’d say the McLaren has been the fastest car through the course if the season but granted it will do you no favours if the car can’t make it to the finish, but McLaren have thrown away a fair few points in the pits also (which obviously has nothing to do with the car).

        1. You and him are mistaken.

    4. Both are worthy of the crown, worthy of a third crown. I’m not a Alonso’s fan (my best friend is) nor a Vettel’s fan (my brother is), but they both are on their peak this season. They have been mighty, consistent, shadowing their teams, shadowing their team-mates aswell. They are true legends. They are the heart of the 2012 Formula One World Championship. No matter what happens. No matter who wins.

  2. Nick Jarvis (@)
    13th November 2012, 0:15

    except for Vettel.
    it would be Newey who won it, not Vettel

    1. @nickj95gb – So Newey provided Vettel with a world-class fastest car at the begging of the season? Please, it’s only been since Japan that the Red Bull has actually been the fastest car (bar Valencia and possible Britain). Coincidently, when he was given a fast enough car he won 4 races in a row. As I’ve said above, he’s had to fight to get himself in a position to challenge for the championship which he has done brilliantly.

    2. Between Newey and Alonso, I’d say Alonso deserved more the title. Hell, he will deserve it more even if it’s won by a Newey’s car.

      1. @commendatore – I’m only going to say one thing: would you being saying the same about Newey if Alonso was driving for Red Bull and Vettel Ferrari?

        1. @vettel1 – No I woudn’t, because even though Alonso would have won the title already, the car would have still be built by Newey. Which implyes that Alonso is still a better (more complete) driver than Vettel.

          The fact is, I know that Alonso is contribuiting more to the development of the car (any car in any team), than Vettel and in same cars Alonso would win the title (in the form that he is in now). Though Vettel might grow and surpass Alonso in the future, and if that happens I will change my view accordingly and praise more Vettel than Alonso.

          The absolute master of contribuiting in the development of the car was of course the all-time no.1 driver -> Michael Schumacher (in his 1st career). ;)

          1. @commendatore

            The fact is, I know that Alonso is contributing more to the development of the car than Vettel

            How do you know this?

          2. From various quotes I have read similar to this one:

            Bernard Dudot, head of the Renault engine program in the mid-1980s when Senna raced in a Lotus with a Renault engine and in the mid-1990s when Senna and Schumacher raced with Renault engines at Williams and Benetton, said both were skilled technically. But Schumacher, he said, has a greater understanding of every area – engine, aerodynamics, chassis and tires.

            “Michael came up with strong proposals – as a driver, of course; he didn’t try to play the engineer – and he knew exactly what he would need,” Dudot said. “We did things on the engine at that time that we would never have done – or never have developed – had it not been him.

            “Senna imposed more than he proposed. He succeeded, but I think that in a team, Michael adds more than Ayrton, because Ayrton put huge pressure on the engineers. In general, he was not often wrong, but he worked differently, without delegating.”

          3. @commendatore – How do you know he would have won the title already? How can you be so sure Alonso is indeed a better driver? The fact is you can’t. What I was suggesting anyway was if everything played out exactly as it has but with roles reversed, would you being saying the same things? I doubt you would.

          4. @commendatore – And those quotes refer to “Michael”, not “Fernando”! Classic.

    3. @nickj95gb I agree with @vettel1 – and these statements against Seb are getting pretty tiresome to be honest.

    4. Since when is Alonso building his own machinery?

      Seriously, some people…..

      1. Yes, Alonso is fully responsible for dragging the same ‘dog’ of a F2012 (that could barely make it pass Q3 in Australia) into title contention. He has greatly contributed to the strong development of the car, thanks to his very precise,all great and perfect feedback and godly driving skills, with Ferrari’s actual wealth of resources and talented engineers playing a minimal role in the turnaround instead, because Alonso’s a much better driver compared to Vettel, who has had the luxury a ‘very dominant RB8 throughout the season‘(/sarcasm).

        That F2012 clearly isn’t as c*** as most people seem to over-hype it to be, sadly.

        1. That F2012 clearly isn’t as c*** as most people seem to over-hype it to be, sadly.

          It isn’t at this stage of the championship, but do you remember just how awfully slow and undrivable if was at the beginning of the season? The only strenght of that car is it’s reliability.

          1. Yes i know, I’m saying that most people still seem to be under the impression that he is still piloting the exact same undrivable F2012 from Australia that Alonso is now dragging to title contention.

            It isn’t. Just look at how Massa has improved since, look at their position in the Constructors Championship currently. Clearly they can’t go that far in the same c*** Ferrari from Australia? No, it has improved tremendously, with both drivers now easily being able to fight for the top 5 consistently, for most races since the Mugello update.

            I’d say it’s down to the team and Alonso managing to make full use of their package, and circumstances (big fluctuations in rivals’ pace) that allowed them to go this far. It certainly is never down to the one and only ‘superior driver’ alone. That’s why it is called a team sport in this respect.

    5. @nickj95gb Do you hold the same view for Mansell, Prost, Hill, Villeneuve and Hakkinen who have all won world championships in Newey cars?

      1. Exactly @geemac and so I have also brought up the argument if Alonso had been driving in a team with Newey, would the same comments be being made?

        1. Probably not. I’ve said it before, the man who scores over 20 races the most points wins and he deserves to win, it is as simple as that. We all have our preferences and our views on who has done the best job with the tools at their disposal, but frankly they don’t matter one bit. The scoreboard does not lie.

        1. Then you can go ahead and credit every other driver’s championships (including Alonso’s) to their respective designers.

    6. You’re right Nick, other drivers deserved it more. One would think this should be obvious to anyone whose watched the entire season.

      1. No, it’s only obvious to people like you or @nickj95gb who like coming up with predictably nonsensical comments.

    7. If it’s not the driver and just the car, and if anyone could be in Vettel’s position in that car, then Webber should be right up there too.

      Like @sid90 said, these ‘attacks’ against Vettel are becoming tiresome.

      1. what makes you think that Mark Webber is better than Narain Karthikeyan ?

        1. Not sure if serious, but Webber did far more at Jaguar/Minardi/Williams, than Narain did in his entire F1 career.

        2. Striper, I think Webber is better than Karthikeyan because Webber replaced De La Rosa at Jaguar, and De La Rosa is beating Karthikeyan. So, logically, if Webber is better than De La Rosa then he must therefore be better than Karthikeyan. Nice try though.

        3. I don’t know about Webber being better than Karthikeyan, I assume he is.
          Nevertheless, Webber beat Alonso in F3000 so he’s at least better than Alonso.

        4. It doesn’t really matter who is better. Because if according to @nickj95gb it’s just Adrian Newey and the car that is winning and the driver doesn’t count for much, any driver should be able to be in Vettel’s position now. But Webber isn’t. So it can’t be just the car.

    8. @Nick Jarvis: In that case, Mark Webber would also have been fighting in it.

    9. @Nick – Great point!
      So let’s take Hakkinen’s titles away and give them to Newey because guess what? He drove a Newey designed car.
      We need to give Mansell’s title with Williams from 1992 to Newey because he also drove a car designed by Newey that year.
      Take Prost’s title from 1993 as well and gice that to Newey, Prost won the title in 1993 in a Newey car.
      While we’re at it, take Hill and Villeneuve’s titles away and give them to Newey. Again, Newey deigned cars.
      People saying a designer deserves the title versus the driver are completely clueless about F1. That, or they are just trolling for people like me to respond!

  3. Masterful stating of the obvious – Vettel.

    1. @thejudge13 – I think this statement has been made because a large amount of people seem intent on playing down Vettel’s championship effort as Adrian Newey’s. What they forget is his performances in Australia, Bahrain and Belgium for example; in all of which he had to fight hard to for the podiums he rightly deserved in a car which wasn’t the fastest.

      Also, Alonso’s Ferrari hasn’t exactly been a slouch as has Vettel’s Red Bull. Ever since Spain the Ferrari has been a pretty decent car, always within the top 3/4 fastest cars. It isn’t exactly as if he is hauling an HRT to podiums and victories.

      1. Michael Brown (@)
        13th November 2012, 0:39

        I think the Red Bull was the fastest in Bahrain; but Raikkonen’s tire strategy made him very quick as well.

        1. @lite992 To be fair – it doesn’t matter whether the speed came from the tyres or the car. All that’s important is that the car was quick on race pace.

      2. It isn’t exactly as if he is hauling an HRT to podiums and victories.

        oh, but he is. And Alonso also never states the obvious when he says “we are giving it our maximum”. lol.

        Don’t get me wrong, Alonso is a great driver and probably the most complete package racing today, but he’s also being given more credit than is due — like the Ferrari is a dog of a car (in Abu Dhabi, his fastest lap was only a hundredth or so off Vettel and both Vettel and Alonso were tenths ahead of any other car). In fact Brundle brought up the fact that Alonso probably under performed in qualifying. Or that he is the only driver giving 120% maximum. Like Vettel, Hamilton or even Narain aren’t?

        Also Redbull may have Newey, but as Alonso said, he has the best team and that’s worth a huge amount – he’s not losing points because of alternator failures or under fueled cars. If McLaren was half as good as a team this year as Ferrari, Hamilton would probably have already wrapped up the WDC.

        To me, while it’s his only real hope, it’s also a bit sad that Fernando’s hope for winning the championship is based on the mistakes of others. It’s one of the reasons that Vettel was so worthy in 2010, when it came down to crunch time, he won 4 out of the last 5 races and it should have been 5 out of 5. It’s one thing to have a car capable of winning, but going out and winning race after race is the sign of a champion.

        1. @uan not only that – but Alonso’s fastest lap was only 1 tenth slower than Vettel’s, despite Vettel being on option tyres that were 7 laps younger than Alonso’s primes.

        2. @uan “…To me, while it’s his only real hope, it’s also a bit sad that Fernando’s hope for winning the championship is based on the mistakes of others…”

          Or, you can put it another way:
          “…it’s a bit sad that Vettel’s hope of winning the championship is based on the mistakes of others i.e. McLaren, Lotus & Ferrari being unable/incapable in building faster cars than RBR and pulling out race strategies better that RBR.”

          Now which one is truer? Who is really the more deserving in winning 2012 titles? :)

          1. Bob (@bobthevulcan)
            13th November 2012, 2:47

            …it’s a bit sad that Vettel’s hope of winning the championship is based on the mistakes of others i.e. McLaren, Lotus & Ferrari being unable/incapable in building faster cars than RBR

            Isn’t that how it usually is? The driver who has the fastest car, but more importantly, is able to exploit the benefits of having that fastest car, without flinching, wins.

            In that statement, you could swap out Vettel’s name for Schumacher (during the Ferrari domination era) or Alonso (in the 2005 Renault) – both had the benefit of a good car that other teams were incapable of matching, and capitalized on others’ errors – but neither would be any less of a deserving champion. All drivers, no matter what equipment they’re in, fight hard. All drivers’ champions deserve their titles.

          2. The driver with the most points at the end of the season, is the most deserving to be WC

          3. “Or, you can put it another way:
            “…it’s a bit sad that Vettel’s hope of winning the championship is based on the mistakes of others i.e. McLaren, Lotus & Ferrari being unable/incapable in building faster cars than RBR and pulling out race strategies better that RBR.”

            That’s not the same. We’re talking driver vs. driver. One reason I like Vettel is that he focuses on what he can do with what he has. Alonso also did this in 2010, stating that he’d be in with a chance if he finished on the podium from Italy onwards. And he was correct.

            As far as teams go, they each have their share of strengths and weaknesses. McLaren nailed the car design from the get go but team mistakes cost them points. Then they didn’t develop their car that well during the season. But it’s still fast.

            Ferrari tanked it in the beginning, except in the rain (Malaysia) and while they didn’t get back to the ultimate level of RB, they did develop their car very well and the team itself during races has been flawless.

            RBR suffered hugely from the new regs and their issues at the beginning of the season are well known. But they haven’t been as flawless as Ferrari (Abu Dhabi?).

            The WDC is decided over the entire season, not just how the last few races go. And having an advantage at the end of the season doesn’t diminish the efforts of the driver when the car wasn’t so good.

            As I’ve stated above, the driver who should be leading this year is probably Hamilton. All things being equal, I’d love to see no team mistakes (slow pitstops, etc.), and no DNFs due to crashes or mechanicals, and see what would have happened if all the top guys finished every race based on where their cars were at during each race.

        3. You could also say Alonso’s not going to win this year’s championship because of the mistakes of others, especially from those driving black and gold cars.

          1. You could also say Vettel would have wrapped this championship up sooner had it not been for that HRT and his alternators, or that Alonso might be further back had it not been for McLaren faultering in Malaysia.

            Comments like that can be argued both ways, and arguably Alonso has been the luckiest driver this year. Both Alonso and Vettel are about equal on lost points (Vettel -12/15 in Malaysia, -25 [and +7 for Alonso] in Valencia, -8/10 in Italy and possibly -10 in Abu Dhabi) (Alonso -8/15 in Belgium, -15/18 in Japan).

            I’ve been generous to both drivers in assuming they’d finish in the position they were in or higher and even so Vettel is down 45 (on the low estimate – excluding Abu Dhabi) and Alonso is down 33 (on the high estimate) – excluding points gained from Vettel’s Valencia retirement).

            And actually, while we’re on the subject of luck, Hamilton would be in title contention had it not been for the team mistakes, and he would have undoubtably taken points out of Alonso and Vettel’s tallies, so I’d keep luck out of the argument if you are trying to defend Alonso.

    2. @thejudge13 do you think Vettel:-

      (A) sat bolt upright in the middle of the night, googled the name of some random journalist, called him up and offered him his unprompted views on the relative merits of his season versus Alonso’s; OR

      (B) offered the quoted passage in answer to the following question posed to him in a formal interview: “Q: Let’s look at Fernando Alonso. He was very consistent for a long time this season, but now he must feel the pain of having had some retirements – contrary to you, whose season has dramatically changed since Singapore…”?

      If you picked (B), what did you expect him to say? That he doesn’t think he deserves to win the title? That it really should go to his rival?

      It’s always amusing to me to see stars from various sports being criticised for what is quoted in news articles, when all they are doing is responding to questions while fulfilling the undoubtedly tiresome duty of constant media commitments. I’m sure Vettel would rather be in the car than being asked for the hundredth time how he thinks his season is going.

      If the answers of the drivers at times lack a little imagination, that’s no doubt a reflection of the predictability and repetitiveness of the questions they are asked.

      1. @tdog
        I think I love you :p. I have the exact same thought every time people complain about a driver saying something.

        Those last 2 paragraphs should be made comment of the decade. It would solve a lot of arguments on this site if people read and realised that.

  4. Call me a cynic, but Vettel’s comments feel like he is trying to justify suddenly taking control of the championship and making it look easy while Alonso has had to fight tooth and nail for every point this year.

    1. @prisoner-monkeys It was in reply to a question. Given the question, what did you expect him to say? “Alonso deserves it. I don’t” – he’s not gonna say that.

      1. @raymondu999

        It was in reply to a question.

        This gets overlooked too often when people complain about something that’s been said which they don’t agree with. And not just in F1.

    2. all the drivers are fighting tooth and nail. But if you want to get down to it, how hard did Alonso fight in Abu Dhabi? He qualifies 7th. Moves up to 6th before the race even begins. At lights out Webber bogs down with a classic Webber start. Webber pushes Button wide into turn 1 allowing Alonso to come through into 5th. Alonso then drives by Webber on the back straight because he has a much longer 7th gear and higher top speed (that’s the car, not the driver). So now he’s in 4th. Maldonado suffers Kers issues and eventually can’t defend and now Alonso is up into 3rd. Then Hamilton’s car breaks down and Alonso is now running 2nd. So Vettel goes from pitlane to P3 all down to luck and car, but Alonso goes from P6 to P2 from brilliant driving, fighting tooth and nail. lol.

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        13th November 2012, 1:43

        @uan if there were more than you, DOTW in valencia would have gone to another driver. I agree 100% to you.
        People see luck only when they want and master driving when they want. I don’t think either Alonso or Vettel can win a single championship down to luck. Luck comes just if you are in the right spot at the right time to push for it,

      2. @uan precisely; if one is to make comments about Vettel’s luck then first thy have to consider Alonso’s.

    3. Fernando Alonso always does the maximum. Whatever he does, it is the maximum, and whatever is maximum, he does.

      Fernando Alonso also never gives up. Fernando Alonso will keep on fighting. Other drivers, small names, would stay in bed, but not Fernando Alonso, because he is the maximum.

      1. JimmyTheIllustratedBlindSolidSilverBeachStackapopolis III
        13th November 2012, 6:50

        just call him maximus fernandous alonsous driver of a sub standard ferrari, leader to a way ward team, coveter of an adrian neweyus and he will have a worldchampionship this year or the next!

      2. I laughed so hard.

    4. @prisoner-monkeys I don´t see it. He is giving his oponent respect, with out taking away his own acomplishment…

      1. Fernando Alonso always does the maximum. Whatever he does, it is the maximum, and whatever is maximum, he does.

        Fernando Alonso also never gives up. Fernando Alonso will keep on fighting. Other drivers, small names, would stay in bed, but not Fernando Alonso, because he is the maximum.

        Don’t state the obvious mate. We all know that’s true already, but thanks for repeating it yet again and reminding the unaware. :D

    5. How is inheriting points due to cars in front of you is harder than winning the race by being faster? Vettel had to do at least as many overtakes as Alonso this season – a quality ones too.

      It’s not called cynic, it’s called tunnel vision. But there is nothing wrong with it I guess, love is blindness.

      Sorry for pointing out the obvious.

    6. Rubbish. Read tdog’s comment above for why. To be honest I’m fed up with the tired Alonso what a genius, Newey what a genius, Vettel what a lucky guy to have Newey line. It’s just a lazy point of view that doesn’t reflect Vettel also had to fight for most of this season. Dissapointed PM.

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        13th November 2012, 14:41

        @john-h probably he’s getting some red Italian T-shirts for free…

    7. PM you used to be pretty rational about F1 and at any rate I used to enjoy your posts with views more balanced than most. However for the last couple of weeks you seemed to turn to Vettel bashing instead. I’m curious as to why that is?
      Anyway releating to the article, the points don’t lie and if you want to question Vettels championahip please question Alonsos, Schumchers Every other Newey WDC and Sennas, and Clarks and I’m sure there are plenty of others, (ie all of them)

    8. @prisoner-monkeys
      I dont know man, sounds like a bit of sour grapes on Vettles recent success.

      Why, on God’s green earth would an F1 driver, a type famously known for bravado and over confidence, suddenly start looking for an excuse to justify his success?

      Quite frankly, I am suprised he does not claim the full credit for his team and himself for the recent uptick, saying “this result was never in doubt”, and further expanding his own ego.

      Honestly, I think he passed up a good opportunity to pump himself and his team up tremendously. Though I am not a rabid Vettle fan, I must say these comments belie a humility and down-to-earth attitude that is attractive in a driver of his level.

    9. @prisoner-monkeys
      I totally agree and for me the best comment of the week… problem you have put it in the wrong place to be evaluated.

  5. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    13th November 2012, 1:23

    Call me a cynic too, but when half the people say an elephant is pink just for being stubborn, is it really pink? Velttel AND / OR Alonso deserve that title. What do people want Vettel to do to accept it? Probably he should severe one arm and one leg to drive, but probably some people would then say: “Well he has a less-weight advantage now!” Bring Karthikeyan or bring Paul di Resta to that RedBull, look at Webber, so people saying it’s an easy cruise are just keeping the blindfold

    1. Bob (@bobthevulcan)
      13th November 2012, 2:52

      I agree. Even if you have a good car, it takes a supreme amount of effort to squeeze out every bit of speed and downforce from the equipment you have, and to do so nearly flawlessly. In that respect, both Vettel and Alonso are deserving champions, because they have done just that.

    2. @omarr-pepper

      You are completely wrong :-) There is a minimum weight floor for F1 Car/Driver combination. If Vettel were to chop off his arm and leg, they would have to add weight somewhere else on the car, so the advantage would be minimal at best. :-)

      I still agree with your sentiment though, because many would then argue that he had an unfair advantage in being able to locate that extra ballast as desired, changing the balance of the car…

      I will now disengage my sarcasm overdrive…

  6. I don’t buy the “he didn’t deserve it” comment when talking about past champions. A notable case with Button. Yes, he lucked into a magnificient car, and yes he was not up there during the last bit of the championship, but he benefited from the best machine at his disposal and didn’t blow it. He won, fair and straight.

    I think every single world champion deserves his title. Some had it easier, some had to work hard until the very last lap, but they all deserved it.

    Who drove better each season? that’s a different question.

    1. Couldn’t agree more with your comment. There’s no undeserving World Champions, but that is entirely different to stating who was the best driver that season. I guess these discussions of merit always come back in a way to the fact that it’s a car and a driver that make a Champion. Many people seem to forget this in their analysis!

      Who knows? Maybe Pedro de la Rosa has been driving the wheels off his HRT all season to no credit!

      1. well we know the HRT has driven its brakes off more than once. They are on the limit, even if it doesn’t look like it.

    2. @fer-no65 Completely agree with you. Every F1 champion is a deserving champion, unless one can prove that he was a cheater or drove an illegal car. What is more, given the competitiveness of the field these days, Red Bull would have hired a better driver, if they believed that Vettel wasn’t one of the very best.

      1. @girts – Exactly, Hamilton has expressed his admiration for the Red Bull’s speed many times and if Vettel was that bad they could have ditched Vettel and hired Hamilton. Clearly then Vettel is quick.

  7. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    13th November 2012, 1:47

    Let’s do the rain dance! would be amazing won’t it? I’m looking forward to doing nothing this Sunday, except for, of course sit in front of the TV and put a DO NOT DISTURB sign at the door.

    1. Let’s do the rain dance!

      I can’t dance, I’m so bad at it that I am embarrassed to do it in private let alone public. Yet here I am, dancing for rain because that’s how desperate I want to help Alonso here. :P

  8. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    13th November 2012, 2:26

    The cover of the Autosprint magazine is funny as hell! The current situation is nothing short of a shoot-out between them

  9. Lots of Force India related news today.
    And this http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/12/vijay-mallya-kingfisher-broke-india
    Not much motorsport content, but this snippet is provocative
    “Most people in India have never heard of motorsports and would have little interest in them even if they had.”

    1. That may well be true for “most” people in India. But it’s a bit like the discussion we have about F1 in the USA: India is a vast country and even if only a small percentage are interested in Formula One that’s still millions.

      India is the fifth-largest source of readers for this site:

      https://www.racefans.net/groups/f1/forum/topic/where-f1-fanatic-readers-are-from/?topic_page=5&num=15#post-72133

  10. Interesting read that article on Austin. To be honest i don’t know a lot about Austin, but it does sound like an intersting place…seems very “un-Texan” based on that! I was quite taken by this line:

    “For a lot of us longtime Austinites, Formula One is hard to swallow,” City Council Member Chris Riley wrote in the Austin American-Statesman last year. “We’re not that big on fast cars; we’re more into hybrids, electric vehicles, bikes and public transit.”

    Maybe the organisers should be putting emphasis on technologies like KERS and the upcoming switch to smaller turbocharged engines with more emphasis on KERS and Thermal Energy Recovery Systems ni the build up to the race to get a few of the more sceptical locals onboard. Bling, yachts, parties, champagne, svelte grid girls and concerts may go down well when promoting races here in the Middle East but it doesn’t seem like all that is going to work in Austin. Change of approach needed methinks.

    1. Fully agree. I think Austin fits perfectly with what the current path of the teams / FIA is on going forward.

      I do think that during all the meetings about allowing the track/supporting the race the organisers did point to these things, and to teams working on their carbon footprint.

      But surely the sport could have done far better here to highlight McLarens hi tech building going carbon neutral. Enstone having a almost fully solar powered CFD centre and off course the new engines going small volume but high power with turbo and hybrid technology.

      1. Exactly. There are a lot of missed opportunities on the “green front”.

        That said you could also tell the people of Austin about the damage that the mine which mines the nickel for their hybrid car batteries does to the environment and tell them to stop being so self-righteous! ;)

        1. Good point about the mines!

        2. Pardon me for getting on my soapbox, but I’d like to mention: Over its entire lifespan – from construction (rare earth metal extraction, purification, shipping for use in the battery pack), use (actual driving) and disposal (recycling of parts, particularly in the battery pack) – a hybrid car will cause as much, if not much more environmental pollution than an equivalent internal combustion vehicle. Try telling that to the people of Austin!

          I’ve always thought that electric cars (with electricity produced by renewable sources) or hydrogen-powered vehicles are the wave of the future. I’m glad F1 is taking steps to further improve KERS technology, and FIA Formula E is a step in the right direction as well. I do agree that the “green side” of F1 needs to be promoted more often – aren’t McLaren and some other teams carbon neutral accredited companies?

          1. McLaren have been carbon neutral for 1-2 years now, I think Williams also got there earlier this year. And I understood Enstone is working towards that as well.
            A couple of years ago FOTA made it one of their key points to work towards this goal, not sure how all teams are at it now, but cutting down on windtunnel/cfd and testing would sure help.

          2. No need to apologise for getting your soapbox out @bobthevulcan, you are preaching to the choir methinks! ;)

  11. Dunno about Vettel, but Red Bull will certainly deserve the titles they get, despite the cars being on borderline legality in some races in mid-season. They were clearly handicapped by the loss of blown exhausts this year, but despite that, they’ve really managed to get their game up this season. They remind me of the early-2000s Ferrari, and this season was possibly like Ferrari’s 2003, where certain rule changes caught them out at the start of the season, but like true champions that they are, their habit of winning has kept them up. McLaren have been bad from the operational and developmental point of view, and despite locking out the front row in the first two races, they are now languishing in third in the Constructors’ behind Ferrari. The latter are a team always in damage control, which they do pretty well, but they must stop the damage from occurring in the first place.
    One question: if Red bull’s 2012 was like Ferrari’s 2003, will their 2013 be like Ferrari’s 2004? I shudder to think of the consequences. If that does happen, McLaren(1999-2013) will have equalled Ferrari’s Constructor’s drought(1984-1998).

  12. Alonso is only slightly ahead of Vettel this season, and Vettel has shown that he does deserve it.
    Here is some evidence.
    http://vimeo.com/52957114

    1. Have been waiting for somebody to put such a video together. Thanks :)

  13. “I still believe that the driver who deserves it most will be champion”

    So despite taking the lead and having the best car Vettel still thinks Alonso will be champion…

  14. On the subject of Perez giving Mexicans hope – I read about how the Austin Bergstrom airport has upped its customs area for the race. Seems almost 2/3rd of the foreign flights is from Mexico (although many from Europe will probably be in “US” flights from having had a stop/transfer already)!

  15. Vettel deserves to be a WDC, just like Paris Hilton deserves to be a billionaire.
    Inheritance doesn’t make you any less worthy.

    1. Well, I can see your point @jason12, apart from the fact that Paris Hilton is pretty good at staying in the limelight somehow – that’s a skill. Not one I particularly admire, but still, she’s putting quite a bit of effort into it.

      And Vettel, even if he had just inherited/gotten the title, to get it three times in a row shows some talent at taking opportunities when they present themselves. Every WDC needs to do that I think (look at Button, for example).

      Given that Vettel is also clearly a fast driver, good at getting that winning pole-lap in Q3, great at driving away when needed at the start, etc., and even showed (Spa this year f.e.) that he can certainly overtake when in the right mood, and has been doing this now for 4 years (okay, with clear mistakes in the 1st two, granted) to winning effect in 2 of them, at least getting 2nd in the two others if he doesn’t win it this year too, I’d say “inheriting” it is a bit too easy a way to think of what he did.

  16. COTD! The best day to start the day! Mr. Hembery, where are you? I’ll buy Pirelli tyres (when I have my own car), if you stop being so conservative.

    As for the Abu Dhabi video edit, I believe that F1 fans deserve something more / better. A solid montage but nothing special, no new team radio messages, the same music style as always. Come on guys, this is not Vienna Opera Ball, be more creative.

    1. @Girts

      no new team radio messages

      And some of them were in the wrong order. And they used the misleadingly-edited version of Pilbeam’s message to Webber again.

      1. I’ll buy Pirelli tyres, if you stop being so conservative.

        And I’ll get rid of my Pirelli’s if they stop been conservative.

        I want to watch a race & not the sort of tyre lottery that made early 2012 as ridiculous as it was!

        1. I assume by “tyre lottery”, you mean the fast degrading tyres, and ensuing unpredictable results, we saw in the early stages of the season.

          I think what @girts means is that he’d prefer if Pirelli were more bold in their choice of compounds – for instance, instead of a soft/medium combination, they bring soft/hard to a race. That way, there’d be more variation in teams’ race strategies, rather than everyone sticking to the same homogenous strategy. This creates a good race without turning it into a “lottery”.

        2. @bobthevulcan @Dizzy I personally enjoyed the first half of the season a lot although I think that the tyres had much less impact on the race results than often perceived. Raikkonen, Perez, Maldonado and Kobayashi have been delivering strong results after the summer break as well so you cannot say that their teams were simply lucky in the first races. I believe that the field was simply very competitive at the beginning of the season and the tyres just added to the excitement.

          The small teams have not been able to keep up with the big ones in the development race and I guess everyone has more or less unlocked the tyres by now, too. So the ‘normal’ order has been restored and there’s just no need for bulletproof tyres that make the already predictable races on the Tilkedromes even more boring. For sure, I understand that Pirelli won’t develop new, more aggressive tyre compounds this year but I think that various strategies would only improve the racing.

          1. @girts – I agree.

    2. @girts – Spot on about the race edit. And I’m gonna take that a bit further and say it’s not just average, it’s plain awful. They missed out on including a whole heap of relevant highlights, overlapping of sound and image is plain ****, the poorest, shortest, most unspectacular shots of the incidents on track being used, messed up team radios, messed up / variable sound volumes and gains all over, no sound post-processing whatsoever and the list goes on. And what happened to the soundtrack?! I turned the speakers off after less than 30 seconds. If I were leading the communications/media department I would find whoever is responsible for that choice, I would fire them, hire them back and fire them again.

      Seriously now, I don’t know if it’s because I happen to know a thing or two about montage scripts and audio formatting / track usage and I might be over-pretentious / picky and such, but it’s just unwatchable for me. Too bad. For such a hectic race, the edit should have been all goosebumps material. Huge disappointment.

  17. I just read the Q&A of Sebastian Vettel on formula1.com. And, I just realized that he appears EVERY SINGLE MONTH, while Fernando Alonso didn’t appear a single time in the last years. Is that a Ferrary policy?

    1. Interesting. It’s hard to imagine F1.com not wanting to have an interview with Alonso if he’s available.

      Running a website I get a feel for which drivers people are most interested in reading about but it doesn’t take a genius to realise there’s an appetite for information about the Ferrari pair. As you suggest, perhaps the Ferrari press office doesn’t give as free access to them as Red Bull do their drivers.

  18. Alonso deserves this one !! bored of vettel winning . by the way did anyone notice that in the magazine ad alonso looks a little like clint eastwood :P

  19. Here’s a nice interview with (Abu Dhabi driver-steward) Warwick, elaborating a bit on why it took so much time to decide on Vettels Red Bull on Saturday.

    1. Interesting to read Charlie Whiting actually has little to do with those decissions.

  20. From the outset I am a dedicated Alonso fan. I believe that every champion is worthy of the crown, regardless of how they got there. I was very sceptical of Jenson Button’s title but he has proven that in the right machinery that he is world class.
    But this sudden Alonso bashing and mocking is becoming rather tedious. It is blatantly obvious that he is still getting 100% out of the car. His ability to ensure he leaves everything to the last ten laps by sacrificing qualifying is incredible. His lose combat racing perfect. I think Vettel’s fans, more than Vettel, are trying to justify this title by saying he has been flawless throughout the campaign. Alonso has had a better championship, in my opinion. Alonso scored more points when his car was poor than Vettel has, and Vettel clawed the gap back with a huge performance advantage. That’s formula 1. But inferring Alonso is not worthy as he claims that the car is a ‘dog’ is unfair. The car is not a dog, its just that at no point in the season did it have a huge performance gap to its competitors, like McLaren and Red Bull.

    1. @rbalonso – Who said Alonso isn’t worthy of the title, and where did you get the impression that this is a general consensus?

      In fact, on the other side, we have on this article alone, someone trying to credit the title to Adrian Newey (specifically stating “not Vettel”), and someone likening Vettel to Paris-freaking-Hilton.

      1. Guy who came up with Paris Hilton remarks is 12 years old max (as his name indicates) so he can be forgiven and not to be taking seriously ever again:)
        And where did @rbalonso find Alonso bashing/mocking posts is a mistery to me. Whole internet is filled only with praise for Fernando and rightly so. What is a bit sad that most of the praisers cannot enjoy Alonso’s great driving without diminishing Seb’s almost equally impressive perfomance. But tide of negative “it’s only the car” opinions seem to be vanishing slowly race by race as people who keep their eyes open finally start to see things as they are and not through the curtain of prejudice.

    2. People are just saying he should stop trying to talk himself up by claiming the Ferrari is a dog. Few, if any, are denying he deserves to win this title as well. But many, if not most, think he should stop his whining, stop his politics (we don’t need to hear how good Hamilton is and how bad Vettel is every other week) and just drive the damn car.

    3. I personally respect Alonso hugely @rbalonso . This doesn’t mean I like him or support him but means that I can admire his talent as a driver and acknowledge that he is one of (if not the best) driver on the grid. What I don’t understand is how the favour can’t be returned; that has baffled me.

      I can understand that everyone has their own opinion and they have the right to voice it, all I ask is that respect is not broken. Comments such as the ones @david-a have stated are quite frankly pathetic.

    4. (@david-a,@gilles) My impression is not that there has been a complete inverse in opinion. I just feel that when the field was seen to be ‘level’, Alonso was getting a lot of praise from everyone but since he’s made his Hamilton comments again and implied Vettel’s success is more due to Newey, he has not. His driving is at the same level in my opinion but I feel that recent updates to the car haven’t worked. Vettel’s fans have, quite rightly, became louder on this but I think that slating Fernando as a character is plain wrong. In practice in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari were the sixth fastest team. Are we to expect Fernando to be happy with this? Obviously not. We should not confuse brilliant driving over the distance with a great race car. Nor, should we assume that because the Ferrari has not won a race since the summer that the car is a dog. (@mnmracer)

      (@vettel1) I think it comes down to the performance gap to rivals and at what point in the season one receives it. This I think is Vettel’s major image problem. In 2010 and this year, he was not at the top of the championship until he had a huge advantage for the last six rounds or so. I can not argue with Vettel’s skill, I think he will be in the top 5 best ever but that image combined with the finger obviously rile people.

      1. @rbalonso Well I think “fighting with Newey” comment was misunderstood by most. It was a clear message to Ferrari team to up their game, FA reminded them they are fighting against Newey and not Mike Gascoyne for example. Fernado himself has always been very respectful when talking about his oponents (that’s why I like him) – Schumacher, Vettel, Hamilton or Trulli. I do not remember any remarks from him that can be interpreted as somewhat devaluating rival drivers. Of course we don’t know what he really thinks but he’s clearly clever enough not to underate Vettel’s driving skill and determination, he learned all about it in 2010 after all. So those fans who suddenly started to criticize Alonso more only for his comments haven’t been following F1 long enough, maybe.
        But you have to admit that this sudden spark of love between Fernando and Hamilton is a bit strange. I find it very funny but there are people who gets pi##ed about it

        1. @gilles. Yeah, I was pretty miffed when I first started hearing of this love affair. At first, I thought it was a clever ploy to alienate Ron Dennis as the principle factor in Alonso’s parting from McLaren. I have also read it as Alonso trying to use it as a way to justify himself as the best in F1. Although, that to me doesn’t stand to reason as atm Hamilton is not the benchmark. I think the reason Fernando is doing it is that he has had many controversies and does not like being portrayed as the villain. Casual fans perhaps think that Alonso and Hamilton hate each other and naturally support Lewis as the number one British driver. Alonso certainly has more fans since his arrival on twitter, which I don’t think should be overlooked. Also, Hamilton’s stock in Britain has depreciated due to his apparent desire to become a celebrity more than a racing driver. I say that because I always like the pre-politics characters of the drivers. If you look at Alonso and Hamilton in their first competitive seasons, they are rather timid and only want to race and to win. It’s funny how the high pressure environment shapes people.

  21. I find the ongoing debate about Vettel quite amusing, lot`s of people feel the need to diminish him. I can understand why, you always try to play down the competitors that make your own “favourite” look less than great. I did the same in the Schumacher era, first I comforted myself by tellin myself that this wouldn`t have happened if Senna were still alive. Then I tried to convince myself that Hill, Villeneuve and Coulthard could defeat Schumacher on a regular basis, they couldn`t. Then came Hakkinen before he disappeared. Then I had to face reality.

    The people who spend a lot of time trying to put Vettel down surely haven`t taken the time to ask themselves the following question: “Red Bull as a team at the moment have the luxury of being able to pick and choose most drivers in F1, but they prefer to keep Vettel. Why is that?”
    It`s because he`s got what they`re looking for. Talented, great work ethic, perfectionist, ability to get a car working for him, mental strenght (as shown in 2010) and a strong desire to win.

  22. I really don’t this idea of ‘deserving’ at all. It’s a contest; one where the fellow with the most points gets the prize. It has nothing to do with any value-weighted concept of deserving or undeserving, who tried hardest or who wanted it most.
    It’s a bit like saying that Williams didn’t ‘deserve’ backing from AT&T or Spa doesn’t ‘deserve’ a corner called Pouhon. It has no meaning.

  23. As much as Alonso and Ferrari like to romanticise that they are valiantly getting 120% out of the car, the fact is that it’s a car that is sitting 2nd in the WCC table.

    The fact that this car has been able to overcome its bad start to the season, and overtaken both McLaren and Lotus in the WCC standings since the European season, says a lot.

    All this, despite their hideously underperforming number 2 driver.

    Let’s not forget that Alonso was only 1 tenth slower than Vettel in Abu Dhabi towards the end of the race – despite Alonso’s medium tyres being 7 laps older than Vettel’s soft tyres, and that despite Vettel’s best efforts at a fastest lap in India – Alonso was actually faster.

    1. Exactly; anyone who still believes that the F2012 is a donkey of a prancing horse is very much mistaken. Without doubt they have had a net 3rd best car this year, it just so happens that they are second due to McLaren’s mistakes. The fact that they have managed to stay competitive against the likes of Lotus despite Massa’s lacklustre performance is a clear indication of the speed the Ferarri has had since Spain.

  24. It is impossible to separate driver and car.

  25. Interesting article on doping. F1 has never really struck me as a sport where this culture is the norm. There seems to be so little benefit to it because motorsport is so unlike any form of sport. As with everything in F1, one advantage comes to a disadvantage elsewhere. I think that doping tests should be stepped up as a matter of good practice.

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